Halfway already? Oh my.

So, this is getting pretty real, as evidenced by Cat's growing belly (see, below), and this:

Wowza! It's a baby. At 19 weeks 3 days. Today, at 21 weeks, baby's supposedly about the length of a banana (why do all pregnancy info sites compare to fruit by the way?) and capable of thumb-sucking and swallowing, among other things. At this amazing ultrasound less than two weeks ago, CatMatt's little baby crossed arms and legs through the whole thing - a modest little one, no doubt.

Cat, Matt, 18 weeks:

Cat, Matt, 20 weeks:

Some photos from a few recent adventures: a quick, relatively last-minute St. Louis meetup (Frasers! Amighetti's! And baby's first onesie - from Ted Drewes); gardening and enjoying springtime; and a special celebration and rendezvous / last childless "hurrah" with the Callicoats, who are also expecting their first kiddo, in June. Good times:

"It's getting all E.T. up in here."

When's the perfect time for a major renovation project? So-called "nesting" time? Right, that's it.

This story begins months ago, when Matt (brave, resourceful) attempted to investigate a frustrating feature of CatMatt's house, which is that it is, on average, 15 degrees warmer upstairs (think: master bedroom and future baby room) than downstairs during the summer. This means it's not at all rare for CatMatt to return home from work on a toasty summer evening and enter a master bedroom that's approaching 90 degrees. Not cool. Anyways, upon realizing that cold air was blowing out of recessed lights in the kitchen ceiling, Matt (correctly) assumed duct issues, removed some cabinets, and cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling to check it out. Less than 20 minutes later, he emerged from a rectangle of plastic sheeting and drywall dust to bury himself in a laptop ... to research, what he (correctly) assumed was asbestos tape, frayed, and wrapped around a leaking duct. Uh oh.

At this point, the project came to a temporary but screeching halt, because a) overwhelm, and b) the unfortunate fact that not a single asbestos abatement contractor resides in Lafayette, Indiana. So-called local "environmental consultants" didn't return calls. Bummer. Eventually, a contractor in Indianapolis was found to tackle the job, which (like most projects in CatMatt's house) really turned into three jobs: 1) environmental contractors removing the entire "infected" duct, 2) HVAC contractors replacing said duct with new, asbestos-free duct, and 3) painting contractors patching hole in kitchen ceiling and subsequent hole in future baby room upstairs that was created when asbestos abatement contractors removed the duct, which necessitated plaster removal around existing vent. Sigh.

Asbestos abatement is sort of cool, by the way:

Shiny new duct work:

Painting contractors are patching this week, which means this project will soon end (hallelujah), and project: nursery can begin.Onward.